There are a plethora of options to choose from when deciding which shopping cart, credit card merchant facility and payment gateway to choose from. In part 1 of this guide I’ll give you an overview of the best New Zealand payment processing options we’ve used for our many e-commerce installations that do not require a payment gateway. In part 2 I’ll take a look at credit card merchant facilities and payment gateways and in part 3, shopping carts or e-commerce platforms. The more services you use the more monthly fees you incur. There’s a fee for the shopping cart, the

I researched for ages before I bought my cordless drill. Buying the wrong drill would not be the end of the world; I can live with a chuck that doesn’t take 13mm bits or a motor with a little less power. Or I can buy a better drill later. Committing to the wrong brand is another story. Batteries only fit one brand and I’d be stuck with the wrong brand for all my cordless power tools or I’d end up with a mishmash of batteries and tools, each battery compatible with only one tool. I’m not alone in this. People do lots

If I asked “What is your Bounce Rate?” no doubt many different thoughts and images would spring to mind and I might get a variety of answers. A golfer would think about his golf ball hitting the green from a perfect high wedge shot. An Olympic highboard diver may shudder about the possibility of a “Belly Flop” from the 10-metre platform (ouch). In the intriguing world of web design, a Bounce is when a website visitor only views a single page on a website and immediately leaves the site without visiting any other pages. Measuring your website Bounce Rate can

It’s called the Pareto Principle and it applies to a website just the same as it applies to your sales conversions or your client revenue sources. Stop and think for a moment, which clients produce 80% of your revenue? That’s right, probably only 20% of the total and you make sure that 20% gets most of your attention. If not, this can be an article topic for another time. Mr Pareto says 20% of effort produces 80% of the results. So applying this to your website it’s logical to assume only 20% of the current content is effectively attracting your

How do you ensure YOU stand out from your competition in such a way that YOUR website is the only one your clients will return to? Here are some website marketing tips and strategies worth considering and implementing. Choose the right online software There are many different shopping cart options to choose from. Consider who, within your company, will be in charge of updates etc. How skilled is that person on a computer? This should determine which shopping cart you choose. Start with a simple off-the-shelf option – like BigCommerce or Shopify, both will probably do everything you need quickly

Maybe an existing client referred your products or services, or someone in your wider network thought of you. They trusted you, called you and said “Call Fred Smith and mention my name, he is in the market for some of your widgets“. How did that make you feel and how quickly did you pick up the phone and call Fred? If that referral went as well as it should have then it was probably one of the easiest sales you made that day. Better still, the cost of bringing that new client on board was very efficient. Now turn this

It’s a known fact that to be successful in business you not only need to be a good listener but your ability to close a sale has to be even better. In addition you must be a great leader and the expert in your Industry so you build trust and empathy with your Clients. This in turn encourages your clients to come back to you for ongoing repeat business. So what is a Leader? Leaders are people who empower others to achieve great outcomes, whether individually or as part of a team. They help people see issues and opportunities, uncover

Sales Objections are something every Business encounters and they come in all shapes and forms. QUESTIONS SELL, A SALES PITCH DOESN’T… When was the last time you stopped talking to your customers and started to really “Listen” to them? Quite often the sales process within your business overtakes everything rather than converting a prospect or client into a sale. Here’s an example that I experienced a couple of years ago. I was in the market for a new Golf Driver, one that would help me straighten out an annoying “slice” (a left to right fade of the golf ball after contact with the club) that

You’ve probably seen them everywhere; loved some and hated others. Long scrolling websites have evolved from a need to give impatient users on mobiles, tablets, smart TVs (and don’t forget desktops) everything they want and no more, in the shortest possible time and in the most engaging way. NZ’s most well known example could be Xero. One of my favourite is Spotify. Well built responsive long scrolling pages tend to be more engaging because a series of concise content pieces are highly visual, easily digested. Each section of content tends to be contained by a single screen regardless of the

Sales Objections are something every Business encounters and they come in all shapes and forms. One of the most common is the “all things are terrible at the moment” objection. “It’s end of year tax time, money is tight” “People aren’t buying at the moment, the time just doesn’t seem to be right” “It’s too close to Christmas / New Year/ Easter / the dog’s birthday, (or insert any other time related event)” The strange results of these objections are that we sometimes buy into them and even start to offer them ourselves, when it’s our turn to justify diminishing outcomes. We can